


Five Finger Discount

by rebelgirl_queenofmyworld



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, Church of Seiros (Fire Emblem), Crests (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Faerghus (Fire Emblem), Fódlan (Fire Emblem), Garreg Mach Monastery (Fire Emblem), Gen, I'm Bad At Tagging, Mentioned Blue Lions Students (Fire Emblem), Nightmares, Partners in Crime, Pre-Canon, crest experiments, first fic, no beta we die like Glenn, please be nice y’all
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:48:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 14,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23612554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebelgirl_queenofmyworld/pseuds/rebelgirl_queenofmyworld
Summary: Ashe and Anna knew each other before their years at Garreg Mach Monastery. Their adventures together were the stuff of legends. They had so many memories together during their gallivanting across Fódlan. Some of them they would prefer to stay buried.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

“Ashe, we need to go! We can’t be here any longer! Oh, you really screwed up this time.”

A strong pull on his shirt.

A tug of his hand.

But he couldn’t go.

Finally, the world came back to him, all it took was a blinding slap to Ashe’s face.

He shook his head, trying to slow down the rush of thoughts running through it. Chaos incarnate, as he liked to call her, was right in front of him, shaking his shoulders to get him to pay attention. She was vivid, a flurry of red and yellow fabric shaped into eccentric shapes. He finally tuned into what was happening right as Anna was raising her hand again.

“Woah woah woah! I’m here. I’m… sorry.”  
“There’s no time for that!”

She pulled him up and began to race down the alleys of, where were they, Arianrhod? They had only been bumming here for a few days, but Anna, with her sharp wit, had memorized the alleys and where they lead to. In this case, this alley led to the secret tunnels under the fortress city.

Home sweet home.

Ashe couldn’t even think straight, so his current partner-in-crime had to shove him down a secluded staircase. He couldn’t blame her. Anna was just trying her best to keep them alive. 

She lurched forward into the darkness of the tunnel. Ashe felt her grip tighten on his hand. She was telling him she was there. Even though Ashe had been forced to grow up faster than any 10-year-old should, he was still scared of the dark. In the past, he would have had his parents, but know that they were gone,

It was best to not think about it.

Ashe and Anna only had each other now.

The sickness swept through Faerghus quickly and powerfully, leaving countless orphans wandering the streets. The lucky ones were taken in by the church to live at Garreg Mach. Some of them would even have the chance to go to the Officers Academy, including his brother and sister.

It had all happened so quickly, on a hot summer day in the Garland Moon. Ashe had been scrounging up money to buy their first meal in three days. His siblings were sitting in the former family restaurant, trying to stay cool in the heat. Gaspard was a hard town after the sickness, and with the drought running through Faerghus (the goddess must have been particularly scornful in those few moons), people were hoarding their water and barely giving the orphans the water they needed to live. 

But that one day, the one day Ashe was off trying to pick pockets in the hamlet nearby, the almighty Church of Seiros came through Gaspard. They came with water, food, and money. Ashe wasn’t there to see it. He made the journey back to Gaspard. He could have made it there before his siblings departed if he wasn’t so dehydrated, malnourished, and discouraged by the meager amount of money he stole.

The last thing he remembered was stumbling into the marketplace, panting and nearly delirious. If he hadn’t collapsed then and there, he would have been able to see his siblings being taken in by the church. 

~~~

Archbishop Rhea had many things to do, but her top priority was getting these children back to the monastery for proper treatment. After having what was probably their first meal in days, nearly every child had fallen asleep.

She carefully checked on the children while they slept. She had been looking for months, ever since she heard whispers of a taciturn child mercenary fighting alongside Jeralt the Blade Breaker.

She frowned. None of the children asleep in the carriage resembled Jeralt or Rhea’s dear Sitri, but more importantly, she could sense that they all had pulses, weak and tired, but still beating like drums.

She stepped back into her carriage, noticing a slight commotion in the marketplace. Two young women with red-violet hair were hunched over something. Rhea dismissed it. The child wasn’t in Gaspard. She had other places to look.

The future of her mother depended on it.

And so she signaled the driver to go, pensively humming a thousand year old tune on the road back to Garreg Mach.

~~~

Anna was a different story. Fourth daughter of a pair of lucrative merchants, she was always on her feet and ready to bargain. That day in the Garland Moon, she was helping her family run a stall in the market. Anna never had the same manic frenzy about commerce that her seven sisters had. She dreamed about being an adventurer, traveling the realms fighting thieves or raiding lords. She liked to be on both teams, she just couldn’t pick a side. 

At the age of thirteen, she had resigned herself to her fate of becoming one in an army of Annas. The more sisters that could keep up the ruse of the Secret Seller, the better.

She was tending the stall with her older sister. The Anna of all Annas. Oh why did their parents give them all the same name? Her sister was 19 at the time, and already comfortable in her position as the main Secret Seller. She was a thief, but also a amateur philanthropist. She was perfect.

Anna hated her guts.

The sisters were in the middle of a curt and cordial conversation when the orphan stumbled into the market. Anna saw him and she was instantly fascinated. What was his story?

She would later find out that he was Ashe Ubert, her partner in crime and only family. The day she finally met him was the day she decided she wasn’t going to do this charade anymore. Anna was a deceiver by nature, but she was done fooling herself about her wish for her fate.

~~~

Ashe’s view of the slightly interested eyes and the blaring sun was unpleasant. He couldn’t breathe, he was just hacking up whatever he had left in his body.

The shadow of someone’s head came over his weary eyes. He could see them better now without the sun in his face. Dull merchant faces, wondering whether the boy collapsed in the street would be bad for business.

A faint brush of something caused the sunburn on his pale face to twinge. 

He must have reacted with what little energy he had left, because the moment he cringed, the shadow shifted to avoid brushing him again.

“Oh! I’m sorry. That was an accident. Do you need any help?”

He followed the magenta ponytail up to the stranger’s curious face. She was looking at him so warmly. Ashe had a feeling he might finally be okay.

Three months later in Arianrhod, Ashe and Anna were on the third stop of their tour of Faerghus. They didn’t have anything to sell, but with their empty hands, they could steal what they needed to survive. 

Tales of near-master thieves had spread throughout the fortress city, but no one suspected a 10 year old and a 13 year old could be the master pickpockets.

Ashe and Anna were perfect together. His speed and her skill were no match for even the most prominent lords of the Kingdom. They had even stolen cufflinks from Rodrigue Fraldarius himself. (The man did eventually find out and gave the duo both money and the stolen cufflinks, but that was their secret)

In Arianrhod, they messed up.

Specifically, Ashe messed up, and they both had to deal with the consequences.

At midnight on the day they rushed into the sewers, Ashe and Anna finally found the perfect spot to hide. 

The streets were never safe. They had been running for nearly two days straight. Dirt and scratches covered their weary faces. They rarely slept at the same time, but tonight they just couldn’t resist.

They were finally somewhat safe on a rooftop in the fortress city. There was a cacophony of noise in the streets below, but the two exhausted kids couldn’t be bothered.

Anna knew about Ashe’s nightmares. He would never tell her what they were about, but in the six months since teaming up and leaving Gaspard, Ashe had too many nightmares for a ten year old.

There were the ones where he screamed until his voice broke, the ones where he would thrash around violently, and worst of all, the ones where he would just beg for people Anna didn’t know. Ashe would spend hours whispering names of people that he would never tell her about.

That night in Arianrhod, Ashe’s usual yelling took place. Anna was so tired she nearly slept through it, but she finally woke up just as the owner of the building they were sleeping on stepped onto the roof.

~~~

He couldn’t breathe. He was back in Gaspard, cowering in the main street. It was silent, but the smell of death in the air made up for the silence. 

The air was horrible. Hot and pervasive, filled with the illness that took everyone he loved. He could finally open his eyes, which he nearly always kept closed during this particular nightmare.

He knew what he would see, but it was always jarring. Bodies were piled up in the street, packed like sardines. Even though they were dead and rotting, Ashe could feel their eyes on him. 

He did the only thing that he could do, he screamed. He screamed for help, he screamed for the Goddess, he screamed for Anna.

He bolted awake midscream. Adrenaline was rushing through his body. He tore off the thin blanket that he slept with and jumped up. He was sleep-deprived from the nightmares, from running, from everything. His mind was painting images onto the bare rooftop. Ashe had dealt with hallucinations before, but this didn’t feel like one at all. It was too real. The rooftop, their first safe spot in so, so long, was covered in the putrid bodies from Gaspard.

One of the bodies stood and started shuffling towards him. In the stories his parents would tell him, the eldritch monsters, called Risen, were products of dark magic and could be dispatched with a sufficient amount of force.

Risen were from another world, one with exalts and dragons and hierophants, but the one stumbling towards him was incredibly real. He backed up. He heard Anna yawn behind him. He had to protect her.

The Risen opened its mouth to speak. Nothing but purple smoke came out. Ashe rushed forward, baring Anna’s dagger like she showed him. He needed to keep her safe. Anna was the last person Ashe had. His entire family was gone.

The dagger, one that Anna had lifted off of an Almyran merchant, was impossibly sharp. It pierced the shuffling corpse, sinking deep into its thick flesh.

Flesh? No.

Risen were akin to scarecrows. Cutting through them was like blowing a candle out, that’s what all the tales said.

Ashe looked up, expecting the beady red eyes of an eldritch monster. Instead there were soft brown eyes staring right into him.

“What-?”

Anna grabbed his shoulder, causing Ashe to draw the dagger out of the very alive man. The man stumbled backwards, his brown eyes staring at Ashe. He stumbled just far enough, and fell off the roof silently.

The firewood below cracked loudly when the man’s body hit. Ashe saw candles being lit in windows. The entire neighborhood probably heard.

Anna was gasping behind him. He knew she was hyperventilating, trying to wrap her mind around what just happened.

Well, they were doing that together.

She pulled him down the ladder that they climbed to get up to their hiding spot.

The moment his feet hit the ground, he collapsed. Did he just kill someone? Ashe curled in on himself. He couldn’t think, see, or breathe.

He was trying to protect Anna, but instead he put her in worse danger than they’ve ever been in.

So there they were, two kids in Arianrhod, suddenly running for their lives.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are beginning to get interesting, I guess?

The sewers were dark.  
They were damp.  
They were desolate.

Anna and Ashe ran out of food two days ago, but neither of them would dare go up to the surface.

Anna wasn’t worried. She rarely got hungry and could push through it. She was more worried about Ashe. He had been sitting in the same place since they entered the sewers. He was just staring off into space, thinking. She had tried to get him snap out of it, but it didn’t work. So she resigned herself to sitting next to him, trying to keep him warm with her body heat.

Ashe was already skinny, but their last couple weeks were hard. He was nearly skeletal. The… incident made it worse. He wouldn’t even open his mouth to talk, let alone eat. 

“Do you think he had children?”

Anna looked up. Ashe was still staring off into, wherever, but he seemed more alert.

“Anna, do you think he was a good person?”

“I-I don’t know.”

“Me neither. I keep on trying to think about it, but I’ll never know. I wish I could go to his family and say I’m sorry, but how would they treat the man who just murdered their son, or their brother, or their father?”

“Ashe, you’re 10. You aren’t a man. You’re still a boy.”

Ashe shook his head.

“Not anymore.”

Anna looked back at him. He looked so vacant, it tore at her heart. He didn’t deserve this. He didn’t deserve any of this! What kind of world was this, where a boy loses his entire family and the only person left for him is a girl who isn’t even capable of giving him the life he deserves? Anna silently cursed Sothis. Ashe never deserved this. He should be happy, eating three meals a day at home with his real family, not hiding in a sewer with her.

Ashe had resumed staring off into space. On a whim, Anna took his hand in hers. Ashe startled, the look of a cornered animal in his eyes. Just like the rooftop, her subconscious said.

Ashe was still tense, but he let Anna take his hand.

“Ashe, please. I want you to know that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to be the perfect partner in crime, but I’m there for you. And I’m not going anywhere.”

His eyes welled up with hot tears. For the first time in what felt like days, Ashe closed his eyes, tears falling down his freckled face.

Boots and clanking armor broke through their moment of truth. The Kingdom soldiers were here.

Ashe pulled Anna up and they raced off into the tunnels. They were speedy and small, faster than the bulky soldiers, but they also hadn’t eaten in days.

The soldiers drew closer until Anna could see torchlight reflecting on the scummy water.

They had no choice but to fight. Ashe was a fairly good archer, but the cramped sewer didn’t allow nearly enough space to get a strong shot. It was up to Anna to protect them.

She wasn’t a strong fighter, but she could dodge blows like nobody’s business. Anna stretched and then jumped into the fray while Ashe hid behind some debris and readied his arrow, probably for the lofty chance that he’d get a lucky hit.

Anna assessed the situation. There were only three soldiers, but they had the badges of the king’s personal knights. They wouldn’t be easy to take down. They lunged at her with practiced precision, just catching a frill on her collar.

Anna’s outfit was one of the few things she had left from her time as a merchant apprentice. It was similar to a jester’s costume, with red and yellow all over. Her family was going to sell it to some Empire opera company, but Anna used her sticky fingers to grab it. 

It was a ridiculous, gaudy costume, but it was perfect for her line of work. The costume was sized for a woman, so it was baggy on Anna. Enemies never knew where Anna’s body was, so most attempts at attacking her went through the light fabric. An unexpected boon was the color. If Anna ever got caught and had to run, witnesses would always remember the suspect as a flash of red and yellow, never as a young girl with red hair, or anything the knights could follow, really.

She was a gladiolus in a field of daisies. Her sword sparked against the wall of the sewer as she sprinted forward. She was light on her feet, dancing around the soldiers. Their frustration was thick in the air as their swords continued to miss.

It all happened so fast. Anna kicked the shin of the smallest soldier and he fell like a sack of potatoes. One of the other soldiers loomed above her, but was quickly taken down by an arrow to his calf. Anna could feel Ashe’s light green eyes trained on the situation. She made quick eye contact with him and nodded.

She didn’t notice the final soldier prepare to cut into her back. A slight disturbance in the cool air caused her to lurch to her right. A steel sword glanced off of her shoulder.

White-hot pain blossomed, but Anna didn’t have the time to focus on it. She pivoted and lunged upwards with her sword.

The tunnel filled with a blazing green light as the Crest of Ernest appeared in the air. Anna quickly defeated the soldier, and, reinvigorated by the energy of the crest, grabbed Ashe and rushed down the tunnel. 

~~~

“Was that an actual crest?”

“Yeah. The Crest of Ernest. It’s a family thing.”

“Cool.”

Ashe and Anna were finally free of Arianrhod and on the way to the capital. As they were sitting in the back of a fruit wagon, they were finally able to settle down and just talk.

The sun was bright on their faces and a pleasant breeze was blowing through the Tailtean Plains, the legendary site of the battle between Seiros and Nemesis.

Ashe had told the story to Anna many times since they began their journey to Fhirdiad. He knew all the stories about Seiros and the 10 Elites. Anna knew he didn’t have a crest, so of course he was interested in hers.

Anna was open to answering his questions

Why was her crest green?  
How often does it activate like that?  
Who was the original crest-bearer?

Like most things, Anna had an answer for nearly all of his questions.

That’s what they did for the journey. Ashe asked and Anna answered.

Things weren’t fully okay, but they would be safe for a little while. Knights weren’t chasing after them anymore and they were sitting in the back of a truck full of food. It was an idyllic period.

They didn’t know it would be cut short in Fhirdiad.

~~~

“She had a crest?”

“Yes. One that we haven’t seen before. Not one of the Saints’ or the Elites’. A different one.”

“Was it like our guest’s?”

“No. A different one. It was bright green, not gold.”

“Interesting, interesting. Keep an eye out for her and her companion. I have a feeling they might be on their way here.”

“Yes, Cornelia.”

The knight limped away, his leg was still weak from the arrow wound. He had crawled out of the sewage of Arianrhod and immediately alerted the court mage. She surveyed her library. She was unable to find any mention of the crest the knight had sketched out for her.

She was on the cusp of finding a crest long lost to history.

The gremory stepped onto one of the balconies of the royal palace, waiting for her next guests to reach the city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quarantine's got me dead inside. I have a million different fic ideas but no motivation. I've been reading so much stuff on here but never updating or posting my own stuff. Life is weird.


	3. Chapter 3

“So what would your battle quote be?”

“What do you mean?”

“Y’know, what you say before sending an enemy to meet the goddess.”

“Ashe, where do you even get these questions?? Ah whatever. Give me a while, I need to come up with some good ones.”

“Ha! I know you will.”

~~~

Fhirdiad was just like they imagined. 

Soaring towers, a clear blue sea, and best of all, plenty of pockets to pick.

It was a sunny, but cold day in the capital. Ashe had said that Faerghus was always frigid. He was definitely right. Anna didn’t ally herself with any of the three countries of Fódlan, but from what family history she barely knew, her ancestors were from the Empire, a generally warm place.

On this day, she cursed her Empire blood…

Because she was freezing her ass off. 

Ashe was fine in his loose clothing (which was, of course, stolen) but Anna shivered in her garb.

Ashe noticed and said, “Hey Anna, should we try to get you a coat or something?”

“Do they even sell those things here? It seems that you guys are used to the cold.”

“I guess we are, but the merchants who sell their wares here aren’t.”

“Oh I see what you’re getting at.”

“Should we travel to the marketplace?”

“Definitely, kid.”

~~~

The marketplace of Fhirdiad was a labyrinth of opportunities. Vendors from all over Fódlan and even beyond, Morfis and Albinea, were stationed here.

The duo had a fair amount of money, about 2,000 Gs hidden in their bags and clothing. Anna was able to afford some beginner faith books, but all the coats were too damn expensive.

Ashe was hoping to go about this the legal way, but they just had to steal something warm. He could practically hear Anna’s teeth chattering.

After an hour of searching for an opportunity, they finally found one.

A merchant stall selling all different types of items was barely monitored by the young woman running it. She regularly dipped in an out of a fairly nice wagon at the back of her booth. It was a perfect opportunity. Ashe began to hover around the stall, waiting for the woman to go back into her wagon.

His ears honed in on what was going on. The rest of the world was drowned out as he dutifully watched the shopkeeper.

Anna was with him, enjoying some decadent candies she nicked off a merchant’s daughter. 

“Anna, I need your advice. How should I go about getting that cloak from that merchant lady over there?”

She raised her head and instantly leaned back.

“Don’t. We should try someone else.”

“What do you mean?”

The merchant looked up at them, like she sensed their presence. She was nearly a carbon copy of Anna.

A couple years older, maybe, but still stunningly similar. She wasn’t dressed in vibrant reds and yellows, but silver and black. Her eyes narrowed, and with a quick tap of her finger, left her stall unattended as she walked over to them.

As she got closer, Ashe could notice the subtle differences. Anna usually had a more impish, carefree smile, while the merchant’s subtle smirk was almost gloating.

Her voice was nearly the same as Anna’s too.

“Nice to see you again. We’re missing you over here at the shop.”

Anna scoffed.

“Yeah no. How long did it take Mom and Dad to realize I was gone? A week? A week and a half?”

“Four days actually, a new record… You didn’t have to leave us like that, y’know?”

“Oh yeah because our parents would have let me leave the business and become an adventurer like I wanted.”

The merchant laughed, a high, hypnotic sound. Ashe finally gathered his thoughts and asked, “Do you know each other?”

Anna’s cheeks flushed as the merchant woman smiled down at Ashe.

“Oh, I guess that’s important. I’m her older sister, Anna.”

Ashe sputtered, “Two Annas?”

The merchant girl laughed.

“About eight, actually.”

Anna didn’t know if it was possible, but she could feel her cheeks heat up even more. She didn’t want to come back to this part of her life. She didn’t even want to mention it to Ashe. 

He knew she was a merchant’s daughter, and she wanted to keep it at that.

The older Anna put her finger to her lips and said, “I’m going to speak with my sister. Stay here, kid.”

Anna looked back at Ashe as her sister led her off to goddess knows where. She knew she was in for the conversation of a lifetime.

~~~

Ashe didn’t know what was going to happen to Anna, but he was determined to have a coat for her when she came back.

Being near her sister (her clone, really) was not what she wanted at all. He could practically feel the discomfort radiating from her.

He watched her red hair disappear behind a stall and then sprang into action.

It would be a challenge with so many people around, but he knew he could do it.

He casually walked up to the stall. An air of normalcy was important for shoplifting. You had to act like you belong. Anna was always better at that. She was practically a social chameleon. 

He spotted a nice fur on one of the tables. While looking at an ornate mirror, he slowly crept his hand over to the fur and gripped it.

Ashe pulled back, feigning disinterest in the fur.   
His hand blazed green and he stumbled, catching the attention of people nearby.

Great, now he wouldn’t be able to get Anna something warm.

His hand burned and it hurt so, so much. The pain was slow to occur, but when it did, it was one of the worst things he had experienced. 

Through teary eyes, he looked to see what was on his hand.

The Crest of Ernest.

Oh of course there was a ward on the stand, the older Anna wouldn’t have walked off like that without it. The ward burned a bright red on the back of his hand. Goddess, it was horrible.

But he couldn’t attract anymore attention. He could feel the merchant eyes on him again. Ashe shoved his hand in his pocket, biting back a yelp of pain. Anna would know how to fix this. He didn’t know much about wards, but since Anna bore the Crest of Ernest, she might be able to help.

He walked down the path Anna and her sister went, feigning normalcy as the burn ravaged his hand. He finally saw the sisters idly chatting in a courtyard.

He crept nearer, Anna’s sister didn’t look like she’d be to kind to eavesdroppers. So he did what he was good at, observing from afar.

If Anna was nervous, the merchant was terrified. She kept a cool and calm exterior, but he could see her magenta eyes flit around the courtyard, looking for someone.

“What is she so nervous about?” Ashe whispered to himself.

“Maybe me.”

He heard a knowing voice and felt a quick jab to the back of his neck. He dropped like a sack of potatoes and the stranger (or strangers) pulled him forward and unceremoniously dumped him on the ground before the Annas.

Through a haze of vertigo, he could see the woman standing near him. Her light pink air gave off an aura of goodness that she didn’t seem to have at all. He could see the magic sparking from her fingertips. Dark magic.

“Hand her over, Anna. We had an agreement.”

The merchant Anna laughed mirthlessly and said, “I don’t do deals with you. Never have, never will.”

The witch smiled, “Oh still keeping up the act, are we? Yes, I understand why you wouldn’t want your dear sister to know that you sold her out.”

Anna, Ashe’s Anna, gasped as betrayal seeped into her eyes.

“Now, my Secret Seller, you know our deal. Hand over your sister. We know she has the Crest.”

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Anna’s older sister sputtered as she tried to back away from the witch.

The witch glanced at Ashe, her wicked blue eyes gleaming. “Well then, if you don’t know, why does this child’s burn look exactly like the Crest I’ve been hearing about?”

She pulled Ashe’s hand (which he was using to steady himself) and showed it to the merchant, who bit her lip.

“Yes, she has the Crest.”

The sorceress grinned in satisfaction. She nodded to the soldiers behind her, who grabbed Anna as the merchant watched, resigned to her sister’s fate.

He felt the witch glance at him again.

“I’ll be taking him too. Anna, darling, you really know how to make a good ward, and the burn? That’s a nice touch. You have been so helpful today.”

The older Anna stared at her feet, her cheeks reddening.

“Just go, Cornelia.”

The witch, Cornelia, nodded at her and put her frigid hand on Ashe’s and Anna’s shoulders. With a burst of magic, he felt himself and the others being transported to… 

To Goddess knows where.

~~~

A wretched sob escaped from her lips as the magic disappeared. Anna’s knees gave out and she fell to the ground, suddenly alone in the courtyard.

She messed up.

She counted on her bravery and wit to save her sister and the boy, but when she was face to face with the gremory, she froze.

After crying for what felt like hours, Anna laughed. She was certain of something for once in her life.

Shambhala was a myth amongst the traders, but the small device that was dropped on the ground gave life to the legends.

She could feel the little device against her skin. It glowed a bright blue and was covered in runes Anna had never seen before.

The existence of Subterraneans was Anna’s fantastic conspiracy theory. She didn’t dare share her ideas, but she believed in them with the same fervor she had for money. 

She finally had proof. All of her theorizing and traveling that took her from Enbarr to Ailell was finally verified.

Anna’s heart hurt with the loss of her sister, but she knew what she had to do.

She was going to make whatever was donning Cornelia’s appearance regret messing with her family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update, chronic pain has been kicking my ass recently. My fingers and wrists hurt so much right now so I basically had to dictate this chapter into my Google Doc. This is a bit slow-moving but I just got a shit ton of ideas a couple of nights ago that I really want to fit in. Also, Anna's sister is Canon Anna (Cananna is what I've been calling her). HAPI WILL BE IN THE NEXT CHAPTER AND I'M SO EXCITED!!!


	4. Chapter 4

From what he could tell, they were underground. The room they were in was carved out of stone and had the humidity of the sewers in Arianrhod. 

Time was difficult to keep track of, but Ashe was fairly sure they had been in this strange room for a couple days, enough time for his burn to scab over.

“Stop scratching it,” Anna said dejectedly.

“I can’t help it! It’s itchy.”

“Well, it’s going to scar if you keep on messing with it.”

Anna was in a terrible mood, and had been for their time in the room. Her fingers twitched for the weapons she always had hidden on her. The guards had removed them and no matter what bargain Anna would try to strike with them, they refused to give them back.

Today she was lying down with her legs crossed at her ankles as she simmered. Ashe knew she was mad, but this room wasn’t the worst place they had been in their travels. They were fed regularly, given some blankets, and the guards had the uniforms of the Kingdom, so they weren’t totally in the clutches of evil like Anna ranted they were.

He had inspected the room thoroughly when they were first placed in there. There were carvings in the stone walls of birds, mountains, and portraits of people who didn’t know. People had been in here before and left their mark on the walls.

The one source of entertainment in the room was the carvings, so Ashe had them memorized by the time he and Anna were moved by the bird people.

Oh, the bird people.

Their robes and masks were disturbing, but they were cordial with Ashe and Anna. They treated them like human beings, unlike most of the people they would meet on the streets of Faerghus.

For the first time in the entirety of their travels, they were separated. Even though Ashe kicked and screamed as they pulled him off of Anna, he was easily whisked off. He was barely an adolescent and he was painfully thin. He didn’t stand a chance against the mages.

Anna didn’t even try to put up a fight. She was limber and could withstand more than a couple blasts of dark magic, but the bird people had whispered to her while Ashe slept. They told her vividly of every single thing they would do to him, in what order they would cut his fingers off, the methods of vivisection they were eager to try.

She didn’t resist when they took her. She couldn’t afford to screw this up and have Ashe tossed to the whims of the birds.

~~~

He didn’t understand why Anna didn’t try to save herself and him. For a thirteen year old girl, she was strong even without her sword. Ashe saw her in action after her trusty iron sword broke. She became a blur of fists and elbows, not above kicking shins and elbowing throats.

But when they were separated, she just let them take her. He knew there must have been some reason for it. Anna never did things without thinking. As he was dragged off, he couldn’t help but feel betrayed by his closest friend.

After kicking and dragging his feet, the bird people just picked him up and carried him. Ashe clawed at their masks with his stubby fingers, but they were well made and impenetrable. The mages didn’t give a sign that they were bothered by his grappling.

He closed his eyes and wished for all of this to go away. Since his parents’ deaths, he had a difficult relationship with the goddess, but as he was being carried off into the unknown, he prayed fervently.

His siblings, his home, and his family restaurant flashed in his mind. Even if Gaspard was a ghost town, he still had his memories of it.

His reminiscing was interrupted by a sudden stop. He didn’t want to open his eyes. He hoped that if he did, he would be in his bed back home, eager to talk with his siblings about the wild dream he had.

He felt small fingers grasp his hand, and his eyes flew open. A girl about Anna’s age, was staring back at him with her wide, rose-colored eyes. The mages placed him on a bench and he finally looked around as the girl stood before him, nearly petrified with surprise.

He was in… a greenhouse?

Light streamed in through the glass as birds flew around the trees. It was nearly gorgeous. He felt his suspicion grow. Why would the witch put him in a place like this? It wasn’t the room they were in, damp and cold and dark. If he was in a nice place like this, where was Anna?

It felt the strange cooling heat of white magic on his hand. The girl was next to him, working her magic on his hand. A golden crest glowed in existence as she healed him.

Ashe noticed her almost imperceptible glance at the mages, who nodded approvingly. He watched as the burn faded from his hand, leaving only a faint scar behind; a small area on his body that wasn’t covered in freckles.

The mages stepped into the shadows. The girl scrunched up her face as they warped off.

“I hate when they do that. Dark magic always smells weird.”

Ashe glanced at the girl, who had her eyes on the spot the mages disappeared from.

“W-what do you mean it smells weird?”

She looked at Ashe like he was an idiot.

“You can’t feel it, you don’t use any magic, but for anyone with even a bit of magical prowess could smell it. Dark magic just… feels weird. It’s a good thing not many people can use it. It seems everyone uses thunder, fire, or wind. Everyone except those weirdos.”

“What can you do, um, girl with magic hands?”

“Hah! That’s a good one. I can whip up a mean fire spell.”

Ashe felt a wave of heat hit him as the girl conjured a small ball of flames in her hand. It wasn’t frightening, unlike most battle mages. The fireball flickered like a campfire, smelling over so slightly of pine.

“I was told that I could be able to summon meteors one day, and I’ve tried, but there’s something weird about this place. The stronger the magic, the more this weird place subdues it.”

She looked vacantly around the room, probably sensing something Ashe couldn’t see.

He had to bring up the elephant in the room.

“So what’s with your crest? Is that why you’re here?”

“Yeah,” she drawled.

“I dunno its name or anything. It’s not that important back where I’m from. I can do more white magic when it appears. I wish I could have more control over it, so it’ll activate when it’s needed, but that’s not how crests work.

“These people say that they’ll help me with that, but I don’t believe that. People tend to say things they don’t mean around here.”

“What else can you do with your crest? I don’t have one and I’ve only met maybe one other person with a crest. I’m just interested, you don’t have to answer.”

She laughed darkly.

“Believe me, it’s fine. You’re the first human I’ve been able to talk to for a while. Past couple weeks, it’s just been me and the birds.”

“The birds.”

She raised her hand and suddenly, birds came flying from all over the garden to swirl in a vortex around her. 

And when she lowered her hand, they disappeared as quickly as they had come.

“Woah.”

The girl extended her tanned hand. 

“I don’t know how long you’ll be here, but anyways, Name’s Hapi. Nice to meet you, I guess?”

Ashe put his pale hand in hers and shook it.

“I’m Ashe. Nice to meet you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, y'all! I hope some people are still reading this fic lol. Anyways I was gonna go more into healing in this chapter and the sensation but I realized about 500 words in I was just writing about Icy Hot (the one with shaq, y'know?). But yeah I love Icy Hot now the patches actually work with my joint pain (thanks lupus). I had literally no clue that it'd work until I got this 2 dollars off coupon. I still love Hapi, but Icy Hot pain relief patches are my true love at the moment.


	5. Chapter 5

As the days passed in the garden, things became… surprisingly normal. Hapi was beginning to train Ashe in magic, partially because he was so interested in it, but mostly so he’d stop bugging her about it.

It was no surprise to her that he had wind magic. It suited him, he was quick on his feet and could adapt easily to situations. There were boys like him in Timotheos.

Her home often ran through her mind. A strange mountain village that was heavily magical. It couldn’t be found unless the seeker knew the village. Hapi left Timotheos once she figured there was nothing left for her there.

She dreamed of the outside world beyond the time-lost village. So she escaped into the Kingdom. She never changed her mind and went back. Hapi could barely even remember the entrance to Timotheos, but that didn’t matter, she would never go back.

Despite constantly being sequestered in the castle, she was more free than she had ever been in her home. She could read books beyond the small shelf in Timotheos where all of the books for the village were kept. She could advance her magic and learn magic theory from scholars from all different places. She could progress as a human and as a mage.

Hapi was allowed to read whatever she wanted and was properly taken care of, but she had to give the bird people her blood in exchange. Her crest was rare and major, and because Timotheos was hidden physically and magically from the rest of Fódlan, she was the only person in Fódlan who had a major Crest of Timotheos. 

Late at night, she would hear whispers from the bird people about their projects. Her blood was being used to make a Dark Dragon Sign, a little pendant used to give others a watered down version of her ability. They were difficult to make but worth the effort, according to the mages.

Hapi was one of the lucky ones. Some of the other mages were giving people crests that they weren’t born with. The process was excruciating and apparently many did not survive. It was all just gossip, but Hapi always behaved well so the bird people wouldn’t get any ideas.

The late night constellations were splashed across the sky. The clear glass of the greenhouse did little to obscure them. Her late night thoughts were always quieted by the constellations in the sky. In Faerghus, she could sometimes catch a glimpse of an aurora. The first time she saw one, she stared at it for nearly ten minutes before Cornelia told her what it was.

Cornelia was patient with her. Hapi knew that Cornelia saw her as a project, but she couldn’t help but appreciate the charismatic woman.

The sorceress was the first one to extend a hand to her when she was begging for change in Fhirdiad. The other passerby laughed and ignored her, but Cornelia didn’t.

Cornelia listened to her. She was better than the other Agarthans. Myson and Odesse would force her to use her Crest to heal prisoners they tortured. They would force her watch as the prisoner’s bones snapped back in place and their lacerations slowly knit back together. Cornelia was always there to comfort Hapi after the healing. Later she would realize it was all orchestrated so Cornelia could gain Hapi’s loyalty, but it wasn’t that time yet.

Hapi was meditating as Ashe pushed a breeze through the trees. She was working on Physic. The long distance spell had eluded her since she learned it. It was hard to push her magic through the stone and find people and their injuries.

She could feel her reach build as she continued to meditate. And then a sharp pull from a couple floors down.

She found someone. They were hurt pretty seriously, so Hapi sent her faith magic their way.

A shuddered gasp and a quick “thank you” flashed through her mind. 

It… worked?

Only the goddess knew who she healed and how Hapi was able to help them. She opened her eyes and was met with the bright sunlight of the garden.

~~~

Two floors below the garden, Anna was in hell. She knew this place was wrong. Ashe was probably somewhere getting tortured by the mages and she was powerless to help him.

She tried to raise her arm. It lifted a few inches in the air before falling limply onto the chair. Anna had no clue how much blood they took from her, but it was a lot. She was so cold.

She laughed vacantly as she realized the ridiculousness of the situation. They were trying to get a coat because she was cold. That’s how this all started. If they just didn’t approach her traitorous sister.

Anna wondered how much money her sister got from selling her to these people. It was treachery. Annas always protected each other. They had to. Their sisterhood was one of the most important things in an Anna’s life. 

Her sister had the same major Crest as her, but she sold Anna out to save her own skin. Anna leaned as far forward as she could. She could barely make out the room she had been placed in, but she knew that the guard patrols would be coming by soon.

Her vision swam. Besides the blood loss, she also had a killer headache. It wasn’t on the level of the migraines Ashe would cause her, but she could hear her heart beating weakly in her head.

The sudden light of white magic made her squint. The heat roamed over her body. Anna had no clue what mage was casting it, but she was thankful anyways.

As she felt her headache slowly recede, for the first time in days, she lost herself to sleep.

~~~

Hapi usually fell asleep at sunset and woke up at sunrise, but the auroras over Fhirdiad kept her up. She was in one of the trees in the garden, spread out over its branches.

She did have a bedroom, and it was nicely furnished, but nothing beat her abode in the trees. Ashe had his own bedroom too, but after Hapi convinced him to try sleeping in her favorite tree, he quickly moved over to the garden to sleep.

Unfortunately, Ashe had weird dreams and after three instances of thrashing and falling out of the tree, he moved to the ground.

Hapi looked down past the large green leaves. Ashe was asleep on the ground, as usual. She craned her head down and heard him mumbling, which was also usual. 

And then she heard it.

Ashe was mumbling about Anna. She was a forbidden topic in their garden. Hapi knew that she was probably dead now. All she knew about Anna was that she had a “major Crest lost to history” so the mages most likely drained her of her blood and tossed her where they tossed their other experiments.

She didn’t tell Ashe this, but Hapi had a feeling he didn’t have high hopes for Anna’s survival either. 

He was still mumbling under the tree. Hapi sighed and turned onto her back to continue watching the auroras.

She heard the click of the lock on the door to the garden. Someone was coming. Hapi closed her eyes. She wasn’t supposed to be awake at this time of night. Sleep deprivation screwed up her magic big time.

Her eyes opened just enough to see the synthetic blue light weave its way through the flora.

Cornelia and two of the mages were quietly making their way through the garden. Hapi stilled her shivers as they slowly drew nearer.

Cornelia’s smooth voice cut into the silence.

“So, you believe this boy would be a good candidate for the Indech Crest?”

One of the mages sputtered as he nearly dropped a device in his twitching hands.

“Y-yes ma’am. He has the right mixture of abilities that would suit the Crest. He could become an asset on the battlefield if he gained the Crest of Indech.”

“Prove it.”

The mage gulped and waved his device over Ashe’s hand. A dizzying array of numbers and foreign letters appeared on a small screen. Cornelia skimmed over the information and her mouth set in one of her casual smiles.

“Well, it seems you’re right. He could become a powerful soldier, one that can change the tides of the war to come. Get a sufficient supply of the Crest and we’ll do the transplant by the full moon.”

The mages nodded and walked off. After gazing at the sleeping boy for a couple slow seconds, Cornelia turned and followed her colleagues, locking the door behind herself.

Hapi nearly fell out of her tree. They were going to give Ashe a Crest. They would drain him of his blood and pump some other kid’s blood back in him. His hair, which was already a stormy gray, would turn white like the rest of them.

There had been other Crest transplant patients on the floor beneath the garden. Hapi could barely whittle any information from the guards and the whispers beyond the garden door, but the screams of the people below her weren’t something she’d easily forget.

Ashe was going to be their next victim. He was so weak and skinny, he probably wouldn’t even survive the ordeal.

She had to get him out of here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have four essays to do for school by the end of the week. Even though they're super late and my teacher said he'd still give me a zero if I turned them in, my dad is still making me do them even though it benefits me in no way. So yeah besides working on this fic I've been goofing around for the past couple days watching Avatar and Cells at Work (which is the best anime ever and Anna's VA narrates it)
> 
> I'm posting this sad little chapter because I have to get started on an English essay that's due tonight. Funny how I can write a 7,000 word fanfiction and can't even write 500 words for an essay.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> long chapter time babey!!!

Hapi silently dropped from her tree onto the ground. How could she screw this up? Her own particular brand of chaos followed her wherever she went. The people in her village would laugh about it, and before Hapi was taken to the castle, she would have laughed about it too.

She looked up through the glass of the greenhouse. The half moon sat silently in the sky, looking over Fódlan. She didn’t have much time. 

She shook Ashe. He sputtered and opened his eyes, which were clouded with sleep. He sat up shakily. Crap, Hapi probably just ruined the first peaceful sleep he’d gotten in a couple nights.

“You can’t be here. You need to go.”

“Not until I find Anna!” 

“Fine, whatever! You can try and find her. We need to figure out how to get you out of here before they give you a stupid Crest.”

“What’s wrong with that? If I had a Crest my life would be so much easier. I’d take one.”

Hapi clenched her fists and said, “It would make your life infinitely harder. Believe me. My Crest is how I got here, and it doesn’t seem like I’m getting out anytime soon…”

“Hapi, I-.”

“You need to shut up and help me. They don’t just give you a Crest. They drain your body of its blood and fill it up with someone else’s. If you die, they don’t care! You just get tossed into the compost until the garden needs new fertilizer.”

She stuttered.

“That’s just the rumors. It doesn’t mean they’re true, but, but… I don’t know. Please, Ashe, just get out of here while you can.”

She looked up. Her vision was cloudy with tears, but she could see how stunned Ashe was. She took a deep breath. Hapi was breaking down in front of him, and if she continued to crack, Ashe’s chance of escape would diminish.

“Tomorrow I have tea with Cornelia. I know that when I’m gone, the guards will maintain the garden. The door will be unlocked because this place definitely gives them the creeps. I’ll try to figure out where Anna is. I know the layout of this place pretty well, so I’ll make you a map or something. I have no clue where your weapons are, so you’ll have to use the magic I taught you. I’ll distract them as long as I can.”

“You can’t do this.”

“Well, I’m going to, and you can’t stop me.”

“Hapi, thank you.”

~~~

Ashe wasn’t ready, but he had to go.

Hapi was able to find Anna through a Physic spell. She was two floors down and three rooms to the left.

Two floors down and three rooms to the left.

He needed to remember that. Hapi was scribbling up a map in the corner of the garden. The birds in the trees were eerily silent, as if they could pick up on her nervousness.

Their late night plan was slowly becoming more and more probable as the sun rose. Ashe was memorizing it, carefully ordering his actions so Hapi wouldn’t get in too much trouble with the sorceress.

Hapi rose from her corner and handed him a map that was drawn on the back of a page of some magical theory book. 

“You’ll need to get out through the laundry chute. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride, but I’ve been healing Anna so it shouldn’t be too rough on her. I can’t sense what’s wrong, but the feedback from the magic is telling me that she might not be in the best physical condition.”

Ashe could feel Hapi’s pink eyes on him, judging his reaction.

“I wish you could come with us. I don’t want to leave you here alone.”

“It’s fine. I’m used to being alone.” Her eyes were now cast down at the stone pavement of the path. They didn’t mention it, but both of them could notice how the other was angled away from the rich, black soil of the garden.

The lock on the door clicked. With a stoic look on her tan face, Hapi walked up to the door as Cornelia came in and collected her for their tea party.

A few minutes after Hapi left, the guards unlocked the door and began their work. Ashe cringed as they added a liberal amount of new soil to the various plants. Hapi was right. He had to get out of here. 

The guards made their way to the back of the garden to prune a couple of the bushes. This was his chance.

Ashe crept out of the door, gently closing it so the guards couldn’t hear. He locked the door, which felt unfamiliar to him because he spent most of his time picking locks. His hands moved instinctively over the mechanisms, jamming the lock so that it couldn’t be operated again.

Then he was off. He still had his usual soft shoes, which made running silently a breeze. He crept into the stairwell, which was gratefully unoccupied. 

Two floors down and three rooms to the left, he found the door. Ashe’s hands hovered over the lock. What if Anna was already up in the garden? Was he too late?

He didn’t have the time for this. The lock was harder than the garden one, but it eventually tumbled into Ashe’s outstretched hand.

He sighed with relief and prepared himself for what he might find inside.

~~~

The sudden light on her body terrified Anna. Were they back? She pulled against her restraints as a small shadow crept into the room. Sunlight flashed through his gray hair.

Not this again. She steeled herself. It wasn’t him. No matter what Fake Ashe said, no matter what he did to her, it was just a disguise. Ashe approached with sorrowful eyes. Anna knew what was coming. He’d tell her how she ruined everything, how it was all her fault they were captured. 

“Get away from me.”

He stopped abruptly with what looked like surprise. It was all an act, Anna just knew it.

“I see right through you. You aren’t him. You’ve never been him. It may have worked the first couple times, but I know who you are now. Take off that stupid disguise, witch, you can’t fool me anymore.”

Even though her words dripped with venom, Anna shivered and stuttered as she spoke. It was so realistic. Ashe’s green eyes were staring right at her. They had the same warmth and energy as his.

“Huh, your disguise has gotten better. I didn’t think that was possible. What are you going to do this time, Cornelia? You gonna slice off some skin? Drain even more blood out of me? Just tell me!!”

“Anna.”

Ashe put his hand on her shoulder. Anna shifted away.

“What did they do to you?”

She snorted, “Cute act, but you should know. ‘A little bit of everything’”.

Tears were streaking their way down Ashe’s cheeks. This was… different.

He gasped, his chest was beginning to heave. He was having a panic attack??? Would Cornelia really go as far as faking Ashe’s attacks?

Through tears, Ashe began to pick the locks that were keeping her hands strapped to the chair. He was gasping for air. Once her hand was free, Anna intuitively placed it on his back. That’s what usually worked.

They stared at each other in bewilderment. The only sound in the room was Ashe’s panting, which was slowly easing up.

She put her hand out for Ashe’s lockpicking tool. She was much faster at this than he was. He placed the tool in her shaking hands and watched as the locks fell.

“What did they do to you, Anna?” He asked again.

“Nothing good. Let’s just get the hell out of here. I don’t want to see this place again.”

Ashe nodded and pulled her up from the chair. Her legs wobbled and she bit back a swear at her weakness. She was getting better with the mystery mage’s healing, but her formerly strong body felt foreign to her.

Ashe was staring at her.

Goddess, she probably had dirt and dried blood streaked on her face. She didn’t have her trickster outfit anymore and could feel the cold air on her arms and legs. Anna was out of her comfort zone. Normally she would enjoy a challenge, but this was a bit too far.

Ashe shook his head to clear his thoughts and pulled Anna out of the room. She was moving as gracefully as a town drunk, but eventually she settled into a steady pace alongside Ashe.

He pulled her through a labyrinth of hallways before stopping in front of a chute of some kind.

“Let’s get out of here.”

Ashe opened the door and peered in. An abyss greeted them.

“This is our only way out. It may suck but it’s better than nothing.”

Anna sighed and got in the chute. She held on to the handle and Ashe got in beside her.

Her fight or flight instinct surged, but she focused on the task at hand.

“Let’s go.”

They slid down the chute into the darkness.

~~~

The ride down the laundry chute wasn’t quiet with Anna’s constant cursing, but it wasn’t very lively either.

Ashe could feel Anna’s eyes watching him, even in the dark. She wasn’t quite right. He could feel her tension radiating off of her, and the primary concept of Anna’s fighting style was to always stay loose and flexible.

It was painful to see. He had no clue what happened, but his chest was hurting with sympathy. He shifted closer to her, but once he moved her body tensed and he wisely decided to keep some space and fill the void with conversation.

“This is the laundry chute. We should fall into the washroom underneath the castle and sneak our way through the kitchens and get out into Fhirdiad. There shouldn’t be many people down there, but I’m not sure.”

“Well, we’re about to find out.”

Anna gestured at the approaching square of light. The exit of the laundry chute. 

The duo tumbled into a bin of laundry. Once they had untangled themselves from the sheets, they crawled out, only to be met by a mage, one of Cornelia’s.

Ashe could feel Anna adjust her stance beside him. Was she seriously going to fight this guy? Ashe definitely couldn’t take a magic blast like she could, but Anna was in no condition to fight.

Before he could protest, she lunged forward, her teeth bared. In a flash, she grabbed the dagger at the mage’s side and prepared to strike. Ashe could almost feel time slow down as she thrust the dagger into the eyehole of the mask that the mage was wearing.

“You will pay!”

Anna stabbed the mage, breaking the mask’s glass lenses and easily disabling the mage. She silently pocketed the dagger and looked up at Ashe.

He handed her a sheet to wipe the dagger and her blood spattered face. Rumbling footsteps could be heard from the next room over.

She smiled shakily. “Sorry for ruining your plan. Do you know how this place gets water and where that water goes to?”

“Behind the tub there should be a tunnel down to the sewer.”

“Guess it’s back to the place where we began.”

The knights barged in right as they disappeared into yet another sewer.

~~~

Ashe tried his best to be empathetic, but it was so hard. He was applying an ointment from the garden onto Anna’s chafed wrists.

Her skin was a blazing red. She’d been trying to scrub off whatever happened for the past couple days, but that had left her skin about the same color as her hair. 

Her magenta eyes were a little bit lighter than they had been when she killed that mage. His stomach hurt thinking about it. After accidentally killing the man in Arianrhod, Ashe was wallowing in guilt for weeks. He cried and Anna was there for him. He had to be here for her.

But Anna had already moved on.

They continued to make their way through the sewers, getting closer and closer to the city gates.

One night, Anna finally spoke up.

“Sorry if I’ve been… weird lately. I’m thinking through some things, and” she cut him off right as he began to speak, “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

“Oh, okay.”

She placed her chin on her hand.

“I’m just going to say this now. I don’t regret it. I knew it was coming one day and if it was my life or that mage’s, I’m always going to try and save my life. And your life, if you’re there.

I knew it was coming eventually, a day where I’d have to end someone’s life, so I’m a little relieved it isn’t as gut-wrenching as I’ve been told. Or maybe it is and I’m just not thinking straight.”

Ashe felt his cheeks flush. They were respectful of death. They never tried to kill anyone, but Anna did just that. He saw how she intentionally murdered that man. Even if he was evil, Ashe still felt horrible that he died before his time came.

Anna put her hand on Ashe’s small shoulder. The gesture was comforting, even though that hand had been covered in blood not too long ago.

“I thought about what I was going to say. That was one of the few things I could think about it there. What should an enemy hear as the last words before going to Sothis? I came up with so many while I was stuck in that room. ‘I sell first aid kits!’ and ‘business is booming!’, but when it came to the moment, I just said ‘you will pay’. Hah.”

She cleared her throat.

“I know you probably are uncomfortable with me right now, but thank you. The silly things you said back in the wagon and all the other questions you’ve asked me kept me from giving up. I’m sorry if I scared you back there. You don’t know what they did to me.”

“Why can’t I know?”

“I don’t feel like talking about it, that’s your obstacle. I’ll tell you later, when you’re older.

“Anna, I am 10 and literally three years younger than you. I’m not a child.”

Anna laughed at Ashe’s childish pout. It was the first time she laughed in Goddess knows how long.

~~~

Hapi stood patiently in the garden when Cornelia discovered that Ashe escaped. Even though Cornelia was maiming the guards who had been locked in the garden, the birds were singing happily in the trees.

The girl tossed some seeds onto the ground and the birds scurried to peck at them. Cornelia gestured to her. She needed someone to heal the guards. 

Hapi walked over, careful to keep her apathetic appearance intact. She expressed her usual grossed out face as she began to heal the guards’ lacerations. Cornelia turned to one of her usual mage assistants. 

“It is crucial that we get them back.”

“The boy too? He’s not worth the effort of implanting a Crest. It’d be wisest to just let him run back to the gutter he came from.”

“I understand that, but can’t you see? He’s smart. He either created the plan or he knows who did and applied some of his pickpocketing knowledge. All the tampered locks we’ve found so far have proved this.”

“What are you going to do to him?”

“I have a few things in mind, but I’m definitely not planning on utilizing him or his skills. We can find another candidate for the Indech Crest. I don’t want to waste that blood on him. Hapi, dear, what do you think?”

Hapi held her breath. She had no clue what she was going to say if she spoke, but it wouldn’t be kind. The birds in the trees were chittering nervously. In a flash, Cornelia’s hand was around her wrist. 

The birds went into a frenzy and descended upon the mages. They wreaked havoc, pecking any bare skin and clawing at clothing. Hapi’s wrist was released and she dropped down to the floor, but the birds weren’t focused on her. 

Even though she was being attacked by birds, Cornelia stayed standing and released a blast of dark magic in the room. Hapi heard the birds drop to the ground like hail. She opened her eyes and saw Cornelia standing over her, as still as a statue.

“I knew that Timotheos was good with animals, but given his peaceful nature, I never would have thought his descendants could attack with the aid of animals.”

“I didn’t mean it-”.

“I know that, but maybe, one day you could mean it. We could ride into battle with a beast master at our side.” She laughed. “I can’t believe we were going to make a single Crest sign when you have this much potential.”

Hapi felt shivers run down her spine as Cornelia placed her hand on her shoulder.

“You can go climb back into your tree. Tomorrow, I’ll introduce you to one of my colleagues, he’ll help you unlock your potential.”

“W-who is he?”

Cornelia gave her a sharp glare.

“All you need to know is that his name is Solon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late-ish update, but I hope this chapter being so damn long makes up for it.
> 
> This chapter I was like: “well, fuck hapi and her happiness”


	7. Chapter 7

Over the past couple days, Ashe and Anna ran like their lives depended on it, because they definitely did. They even trekked through the deepest woods of Faerghus just to get away from Cornelia Arnim.

Anna reverted to her usual resourceful self, making simple meals out of pine needles and berries. Ashe was able to help a little bit with the nature knowledge he’d learned from Hapi. 

Two weeks into the frigid woods, the duo were finally able to get a ride from a friendly merchant who would take them to the edge of the forest. Ashe and Anna sat in the back of the cart, listening to the mule as it stubbornly pulled the wagon along.

Anna brushed her hand through her magenta hair, scattering the snowflakes that had fallen in it. They couldn’t have a fire in the wooden cart, so as usual, they just had each other. Ashe noticed how her eyes were wandering around the road, looking out for anyone. Anna wasn’t exactly herself, no matter how she tried to hide it.

It was so hypocritical of Ashe to fear her after what he did in Arianrhod, but the way Anna enjoyed killing that mage terrified him. But she joked and laughed like she usually did.

Goddess, what was he even thinking?!

Anna took care of him like a sister and was his closest friend. She would risk her life for his and they had traveled so far together. This was too much thinking for one night. Ashe tried to go to sleep, swatting away snowflakes with one hand and gently grasping his bow with the other.

~~~

Of course the merchant’s destination was Gaspard. That was great! Totally fine!

Anna didn’t know if she had ever been this upset in her life. She could still feel the sting of never surpassing her sister, being the odd one out in her family, just every single failure. But she didn’t think they could compare to how hollow she felt at the gates of Gaspard.

They were back to the original spot. The place they ran away from is where they were now seeking refuge.

Ashe didn’t lie when he said the town was still suffering from the plague. The barren ground was dusted with a light layer of ashes that were whisked away with the wind. Stores were still empty, and the locals darted from place to place, not wanting to be in the public for too long.

It didn’t smell like disease anymore, but it was still eerie. She followed Ashe as he instinctively made his way through the streets. They stopped in front of a derelict building with smashed windows and a sign too faded to read. 

Ashe didn’t even pick the lock on the front door, he just gently pushed it open. He smiled sadly at Anna, his green eyes looking just a little fractured.

“My siblings always forgot to lock the door.”

They crossed through the doorway into a dining room that was just as abandoned as the rest of Gaspard. Chairs were knocked over and shattered glass covered the floor.

As Ashe went around righting the chairs, Anna glanced into the kitchen and saw three sets of bedding pushed into a corner, covered in dust. Now they were past where they began, back to a past that Anna wasn’t a part of.

It felt foreign. Ashe ducked into the kitchen and grabbed a broom. Without even speaking, he handed Anna a dustpan and together they started cleaning up the glass that was strewn around the restaurant.

They looked back and admired their work. It wasn’t too different than before, but now things were orderly. Anna heard Ashe telling her to toss the glass shards into the bin outside. She followed his directions and dumped the glass out. 

One of the little glass shards got stuck in the grooves of the dustpan, and after sighing deeply, Anna carefully fished it out and admired it before she was going to toss it in the bin with its kin.

It was colored glass, the kind of thing you see in apothecaries and churches. She tilted it so the sun would shine through it.

Like her hand had a mind of its own, Anna closed her soft hand around the jagged glass. Red blood leisurely made its way between her fingers. She opened her hand to see the deep blue glass turned nearly purple from her blood. She stumbled back, overcome with memories. 

A cut in her arm, healing magic working at the bare minimum to keep her alive while they took her blood. She fell backwards, dropping the glass shard and the metal lid of the bin.

Ashe appeared in the door to see her clutching at her injured hand. Great. How was she going to explain this?

~~~

Ashe bandaged Anna’s hand, pretending not to notice her crimson cheeks. He knew she was embarrassed. She was usually so coordinated that Ashe looked clumsy next to her. She really had changed.

He sighed internally as he wound the bandage around her palm. He tore this fabric from his siblings’ “beds” in the back, but it really wasn’t suited for wounds. He’d probably have to buy actual bandages. Ashe was burning through all the supplies he scavenged from his family’s restaurant. They really didn’t have much. Compared to the life he was living now, his life with his parents was extravagant, but he never realized it was this frugal.

He’d have to steal. Bandages and everything else they needed (that was taken in Fhirdiad) wouldn’t be cheap at all. He would have to steal something big. He could faintly remember the noble that presided over Gaspard. The knight once rode through Gaspard, with his armor shining brighter than the sun.

What was his name? Lord Lonato?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I died for a lil bit! This chapter is really short and was supposed to be a real long one, but I couldn't find a proper cut-off point so I just did this. Expect the next one in a couple of days.


	8. Chapter 8

Ashe’s shoes were silent on the soft carpet of Lonato’s manor. One of the most important tools of a thief were their shoes. Audible footsteps could get you killed. Ashe’s soft leather shoes were perfect for the floor of the Lonato manor.

His style was to blend in with a crowd and pickpocket. Disappearing into a group of people was easy, but sneaking through a mansion alone was frightening. Adrenaline was already flowing freely through his veins.

He removed his scarf from his face. While it had been cold outside, the inside of the manor was comfortably warm. They probably could afford to have multiple fireplaces. Ashe and Anna usually just set a couple of sticks on fire.

He crept through the corridor, silently checking each room for things he could sell. He grabbed two candlesticks and a small gold compact filled with blush powder. His mother had something similar back when the restaurant was at its most successful. He rubbed his fingers over the ornately carved rose on the lid. This would be worth a lot. But if things as valuable as this were lying around, he might as well check the other rooms.

Ashe slipped into what looked like the noble’s library. This would have something good. He could imagine getting him and Anna tea cakes from the fancy bakery in town. They were never as good as his father’s, but he couldn’t be picky. He smirked to himself. Just a few of these books, and he could afford supplies for the next month.

He looked around for the fanciest looking book. If only he had Anna with him on this mission. As a merchant, she regularly sold books, so she probably knew which ones would sell for a high price. Ashe could steal the book with the most opulent cover, but if it was on the local pheasant’s social habits, it would barely bag 200 Gs. He picked up a book that looked promising. 

It was right in between simple and opulent. It was thick enough that a couple of pages could be used as kindling without anybody noticing. When it came to the important part, the title, Ashe was still lost. The sickness came through right before Ashe learned how to read. The death of his parents and near collapse of Gaspard prevented him from getting any more education. He was able to get by, but reading books was impossible. 

He learned how to read and write his name before the illness, but between that and understanding the triangles and arches that made up Anna’s name, he couldn’t read.

It was frustrating. Why was he even going after the books if he couldn’t read any of them?  
Did Ashe really believe that one stolen book could teach him how to read a whole language? He sighed and placed the book down on the desk of the library. He headed out to look for more silverware, but the teal corner of a book caught his eye.

The book was sitting on the desk, not far from the one he almost stole. A gallant knight was drawn on the cover, next to a woman floating in the teal sky. His eyes flitted to the title, which was a typical line of unreadable lines and squiggles. The title was printed on incredibly large so even a child could read it, but it still was just squiggles.

Ashe stared more at the knight, who had the sun shining on his silver armor. The boy moved the book around to see the light from a nearby fireplace ripple off of the metallic paint. He wanted this book. He didn’t know if he would be able to sell something as beautiful as this, but just as the knight illustration was fascinating him, the unreadable words would fascinate someone else and drive them to pay an exorbitant amount to read it.

A normal person would’ve missed it, but a thief like Ashe would notice the small scrape of a boot on the carpet behind him. He tensed and pivoted with his dagger in his hand to hit whoever was behind him.

Ashe’s small dagger sparked off of the breastplate of the man behind him. The man towered over him and if Ashe didn’t know better, he would’ve thought he ran into one of the lord’s bodyguards.

Hah, running into a burly bodyguard would be infinitely luckier than running into Lord Lonato himself, but as Ashe stared into the man’s cold green eyes, he knew his luck had run out yet again.

Lonato eyed the book. “Loog and the Maiden of Wind? That’s my son’s. He likes to read the old Faerghus legends.”

“I d-didn’t know! I’m sorry! Please don’t arrest me!”

Lonato raised his eyebrow. “I am not going to arrest you. If you tell me why you’re stealing from me,” he gestured to Ashe’s knapsack, “I may be able to help you. I don’t appreciate knowing just one side of the story.”

Ashe was led to a small parlor, where he sat across from the enigmatic lord. Lonato placed the book on the table between them.

“My son, Christophe, loves this book. He rereads it fairly often. He particularly enjoys the writing of it. I don’t understand half a thing he says about the plot sequence, archetypes, or whatever else. I’m not a prolific reader, but Christophe is. He has a future ahead of him if he decides to write.”

Pride sparkled in Lonato’s eyes. An aching pain struck through Ashe’s chest. His parents used to speak that way about his archery. Ashe wasn’t the best archer ever, but his parents made him feel like he was.

“I noticed how you were staring at the book. The writing fascinates my son, what about it fascinates you?”

Ashe felt his face redden.

“I really… I really like the knight on the cover. I was thinking, maybe in another world, I could have been like that.”

He didn’t know why he was talking to the noble like this. Ashe didn’t talk to adults unless they were trying to catch him for thievery. He talked to merchants and street dwellers, but he never got this personal with them. The last time he did, was he talking with his parents? The memory was hazy at best.

“You can still be a knight. I do not know where you come from, but I’ve seen people fight against the odds and become some of my most trusted knights. The Lonato family went from merchants to knights to nobles.” He looked Ashe in the eye, “you could do that too”.

Ashe smiled shakily. “I wasn’t born in the right place at the right time. Knights are incredible, I don’t think I could ever become one. Becoming a knight takes so much training and studying, and I… I can’t even read!” Tears spilled down his cheeks. Goddess, he hadn’t talked to someone like this in ages. Humiliation rose inside him. He just told the presiding lord that he couldn’t read.

Ashe is here telling him his life story, why was he doing this?! He stared just behind Lonato. He was afraid to make eye contact.

“Why are you talking to me?” He stammered the sentence out, bringing attention to the elephant in the room. 

“I just tried to steal from you. I haven’t even told you why! Well, I’m homeless and I can’t read and I can’t get a good job so this is all I have left! The illness took my entire life away from me and now I have to do something as wrong as stealing to survive.” Ashe closed his eyes shut, waiting for his words to hit Lonato.

“You have a good heart. You’re virtuous and noble, not in the class sense of the word. You haven’t been dealt the best cards, but with the right noble sponsoring you, you could become one of the greatest knights in Fódlan, regardless of your past.”

Ashe opened his eyes to see the lord. Maybe his vision was blurry from crying, but it seemed like he was serious.

“I loathe what this illness has done to Gaspard. My wife succumbed to it and so many people have been lost in Faerghus. They don’t know when they will eat next while the Church and many of my fellow nobles continue to live on. I may not be able to help everyone, but- but I’d like to help you.”

“Are you certain about that, Lord Lonato?”

“Absolutely certain.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this took so long to come out! I was trying to figure out how to write Lonato and then it occurred to me that he has literally no characterization that would have shown during this story. So not to be emo but I made Lonato the parent figure I never had lmao XD
> 
> Are people still reading this?


	9. Chapter 9

Ashe was acting weird.

She didn’t even have the words to describe it. He was just different. Anna could feel a horrible divide growing between them. They were going to have to go their separate ways eventually, but she didn’t think it would be so soon.

This wasn’t the place for those thoughts. The sunlight baked her red hair as she stood silently in the woods. She tensed, and then released her hand.

An arrow flashed through the woods and hit the center of a mossy log. She was aiming for the tree next to it, but at least she hit something this time.

“Good job, Anna! I don’t think I’ve ever drawn my bow back that far. You’re pretty strong, y’know?”

She ran her hand through her hair as she fetched the arrow. “Hah. I didn’t know I could get it back that far, either.”

She gently twisted the arrow out of the log. It was one of Ashe’s new ones, balanced with strange white and black feathers on the end. It was pretty high class for them.

“Hey, where’d you get this arrow? It’s almost too pretty to use.”

“You know that book that I got? It sold high enough for me to buy some new arrows. My old ones are splintering.”

If Anna hadn’t been hanging on to every word, she would’ve missed it. She’d been with Ashe long enough to know his little quirks. For example, the way his voice lilts up when he lies.

She knew she deserved it. Her Fhirdiad craziness probably made him feel the same way. But even though Anna was a thief and a murderer, she was still a thirteen-year-old girl, and Ashe’s lie made her lip quiver slightly.

They packed up and made their way back into Gaspard. It was still as depressing as ever. She used Ashe’s new bag of gold to buy some stationery. 

Anna normally never would have contacted her family. Even though her new life was pretty bad, the independence it brought with it was intoxicating. After staying in Ashe’s family’s restaurant, she started to wonder about her parents. Were they looking for her?

The letter was something she’d done a hundred times. One of the most efficient postal systems in Fódlan was the traveling merchants. She’d just write a letter, give it, and a handful of gold to someone.

The flaws in this system were glaring, but the merchants depended on each other to survive, if one of them stole a letter or let it fall into the wrong hands, they were on the quick path to bankruptcy. No one traded with people like that.

Still, she coded her letter. Her family would be able to understand it, but to everyone else it would simply look like a sickly sweet “I miss you” letter.

Anna wrote about her current life. She didn’t give too many details, she was happy to stay lost. She told them about Ashe and warned them about how her sister betrayed them in Fhirdiad. Ugh. She couldn’t think anymore.

She rubbed her eyes as she racked her brain for more to add. She heard Ashe’s soft footsteps approach and he passed her a cup of tea.

The boy stood over her shoulder as she stared down at the piece of parchment. He smiled and said, “Wow, you really miss your family, huh. I never thought you would say you loved them.”

She froze and trained her tired eyes on the paper and its last line

I love you and I miss you all.

It was coded, of course, a simple “beware” message, but of course, Ashe wouldn’t know that.

He couldn’t read after all.

“Where did you learn how to read that?”

His faint smile disappeared. “I… I found someone to teach me how to read. I know it’s pointless lying about it anymore. It’s just, it’s just that I was caught stealing and he could’ve had me arrested but he didn’t and he’s teaching me how to read!!”

Anna nodded grimly. “Makes sense now. The arrows, the money, this stationary.” She ran her finger over the fine stationery. She knew just by her merchant’s touch that this was expensive. “Who caught you stealing? We can’t trust anyone around here. We can’t leave Gaspard so I’d have to make sure they’ll never tell, no matter what.” 

She looked up into Ashe’s shiny green eyes, desperately trying to glean information from them. “He’s obviously rich. Literate, maybe a merchant.” His eyes relaxed. She continued on. “Nope, not a merchant. A priest, a sorcerer, a landowner.” Ashe’s eyes dimmed almost imperceptibly. “Oh! He’s a landowner. Let’s see. A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L!” His eyes widened. This was one of Anna’s party tricks. She could never do actual magic, but her street magic was pretty close. “Landowner with an L name. Do you want me to keep going?”

“No!” He stammered. “Goddess, I hate it when you do that, Anna. It was Lord Lonato.”

She stumbled back in her chair, and half a moment later, Anna was up and collecting Her possessions. Ashe followed her as she crammed stuff in her bag.

“Anna! He’s not going to hurt us!” She huffed in response. “He can help us!” He grabbed her wrist, holding her in place. Her panic rose sharply. She couldn’t breathe. “Ashe please let go of my wrist. I’m gonna hurt you I don’t mean it I just will please just let go just let go Ashe!”

He squeezed her hand gently, reduced her babbling to nearly silent whispers.

“Anna. He can help us. He’s teaching me to read and he’s already trying to retrieve my siblings from Garreg Mach. I had no clue if they were alive, but I’ll be seeing them soon. He said he’ll adopt you and me. Lonato is a noble, he can take care of us. We won’t have to do this anymore!” He gestured idly to the remains for the restaurant around him. Anna knew he meant more than the restaurant, Ashe meant their entire life.

“Please, Anna, come with me. We don’t need to run anymore.” He brought his other hand up to hold her hand. Anna looked into his green eyes. He was… hopeful.

She thought about it. Lonato was a noble. He could keep her safe from nearly anything, except Cornelia. Her breath hitched. Getting close to the noble meant getting close to Cornelia. She would drag Anna back into that horrible room and bleed her dry.

Her instincts took over and she wrested her hand out of Ashe’s grip. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly. Even though she was breathing heavily, she felt so sick and light-headed.

Anna closed her eyes for a moment and tried to keep her mind straight. She got her thoughts in order, and when she looked at Ashe, she knew what she wanted to say.

“I can’t go with you. I-I won’t go with you. This freedom is something I will never leave behind. I don’t want to go back. Ashe, I’m happy you’ve found your family again, but I don’t want to go back to mine and I don’t want a new one.

This is a crappy way to live, but I need to keep moving. I can’t get caught by that witch again. All I’ve wanted to do is to disappear fully, and I think I’ve done that. I hope you find your siblings. I hope Lonato treats you right.”

And without letting him respond, Anna rushed out the door with her belongings, disappearing into the Faerghus night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes I take a week to write a chapter, sometimes I write one in 30 minutes. I swear last night I was on something and just wrote 1,500 words in one sitting. This fic isn't over yet, the next chapter is gonna be related to Cindered Shadows. Also, I'd like to find some more writer friends on ao3, so yeah hit up my Twitter if you want to talk
> 
> In my Google Doc, this fic is 40 pages long now. Holy hell. Thank you for reading!!!

**Author's Note:**

> First fic whaaaaaaat? So yeah I’m Reb and I’m bored during quarantine. I’m writing this as I’m going along so I have vague ideas of what’s going on. I can’t wait to bring some of the Ashen Wolves into this. I’m really excited and inspired about this so please be nice y’all. I'll take suggestions in the comments because I really don't know where I'm going with this. If you like this fic, please leave a comment or kudos. Thanks!
> 
> Also I have a twitter if you would like to DM me angrily for updates that’s fine
> 
> @rebelgirl_reb


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